Methods for treating produced water to remove boron and ammonia

ABSTRACT

Produced water from a crude oil or natural gas production process is purified using a membrane purification system for petroleum production, agricultural, commercial and domestic uses. The produced water is pretreated to remove, at least, particulates and oil from the produced water. The minimally pretreated water is then purified in a membrane purification system that is operated at conditions such that contaminants are removed. In particular, the membrane purification system is operated with pH adjustments to allow boron and ammonia to be effectively removed. In some embodiments, greater than 95% of the boron content and greater than 95% of the ammonia content are removed. Some method embodiments include no separate ion exchange separation step capable of removing ammonia.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a divisional application of and claims thebenefit under 35 USC § 120 of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/844,221, witha filing date of Sep. 3, 2015, which in turn is a continuation-in-partapplication of and claims the benefit under 35 USC § 120 of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/836,317, with a filing date of Mar. 15, 2013.This application also claims benefit under 35 USC 119 of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/198,291 with a filing date of Jul.29, 2015. This application claims priority to and benefits from theforegoing, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to system methods for purifyingand clarifying water. In one embodiment, systems and methods aredirected to purifying water with high total hardness levels producedfrom oil and gas operations to result in cleaner boiler or drinkingquality water.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Crude oil and natural gas production often involves generating producedwater along with the petroleum products. Reusing this water, either aspart of the petroleum production, or for hot water and steam generation,for agriculture and irrigation uses, or for municipal water supply isimportant to maintain an efficient and responsible petroleum productionprocess. Membrane purification systems are known for purifying water byrejecting contaminants in the produced water down to very low levels,including those that meet or exceed domestic and industrial waterrequirements.

However, the conventional methods for using RO (reverse osmosis)membrane systems for water purification require careful and extensivepretreatment of the produced water prior to purification in the membranepurification system. Produced water frequently contains oil, solidparticulates and high amounts of hardness, all of which easily causescaling issues in a membrane purification system. Membrane scalingquickly degrades membrane separation performance; it is one of thecontinuing factors that prevent further commercial employment ofmembrane purification systems for water purification.

In conventional methods, the produced water undergoes an extensivepretreatment process to remove contaminants in the produced water thatwould otherwise cause membrane scaling. At a minimum, conventionalpretreatment methods include reducing or removing hardness from theproduced water prior to RO membrane purification. Water softeningmethods are known; these are often employed to remove the dissolvedsolids in the produced water that easily form scale on RO membranes.Examples include calcium, magnesium and barium compounds of oxide,carbonate and sulfate. In additional, convention purification processesinclude adjusting the pH of produced water prior to the RO membranepurification, to further reduce the chances of scaling occurring. Levelsof pH of 10 and higher are known and taught.

While adding sufficient alkali to the produced water to achieve thishigh pH value (at a significant cost and at additional operatingcomplexity), difficulties arise with separating some of the contaminantsfrom the produced water. For example, boron and ammonia arepreferentially removed from produced water at different pH values.Operating the membrane purification system at a high pH may not even beeffective for achieving a desired level of water purification.

There is a need for improved methods for purifying produced water toremove boron and ammonia.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to producing purified water fromproduced water that is recovered from a well extending into asubterranean formation, in a method that includes use of membraneseparation system. The method includes pretreating the produced water toproduce clarified water for membrane purification. Conventionalpretreatment typically involves a number of separate process steps forparticulate and oil removal, hardness reduction and significantpH-adjustment, in some cases to a pH of greater than 10, toconventionally prepare produced water for membrane purification. Atleast in part, the invention relates to mechanisms and methods foroperating a simplified membrane purification system with a significantlyless complex pretreatment relative to conventional methods for waterpurification.

In one embodiment, the method includes recovering the produced watercomprising a mixture of water, oil, solid particulates and dissolvedsolids from a well extending into a subterranean formation. The producedwater is pretreated to remove a portion of the oil and solidparticulates therefrom, to produce a clarified water having a turbidityof no more than 0.5 NTU units, an oil content of at most 5 ppm, solidparticulates that are at most 5 μm in size, a boron content of greaterthan 25 mg/L, and an ammonia content of greater than 10 mg/L. Boroncontent and ammonia content are removed from the clarified water using afirst reverse osmosis membrane module and a second reverse osmosismembrane module to form purified water. The clarified water is passedthrough one of the first or second reverse osmosis membrane modules at afirst pH from such that the boron content is reduced to less than 5% ofthe boron content of the clarified water. The clarified water is thenpassed through one of the first or second reverse osmosis membranemodules at a second pH such that the ammonia content is reduced to lessthan 5% the ammonia content of the clarified water. A purified water isrecovered.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a membrane purification system having a plurality ofmembrane units, each unit having one or more membrane modules inparallel or serial flow. FIG. 1 further illustrates retentate recycle tocontrol RO membrane scaling.

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 illustrate mechanisms and methods for mitigatingmembrane scaling at an individual membrane element level within amembrane module. FIG. 2 illustrates retentate recycle; FIG. 3illustrates retentate treating; and FIG. 4 illustrates permeatepH-adjustment.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a single-pass (FIG. 5) and a two-pass (FIG. 6)RO membrane module for producing high purity permeate streams for use aspurified water.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following definitions are provided to aid in understanding the scopeof the invention. These definitions are operative in this applicationunless otherwise indicated.

“Total dissolved solids” or TDS refers to inorganic salts (e.g.,calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, bicarbonates, chlorides, andsulfates) and some small amounts of organic matter that are dissolved inwater.

“Hardness” refers to the concentration of multivalent cations,represented in parts per million (ppm). Typically the multivalentcations are calcium, magnesium, strontium and barium. The total hardnessis a summation of calcium, magnesium, strontium, and barium ions interms of calcium carbonate equivalent values.

“High hardness” refers to water with a hardness of over any of 1000 ppm,over 2000 ppm, over 3000 ppm, over 4000 ppm, over 5000 ppm, over 6000ppm, over 7000 ppm, over 8000 ppm, over 9000 ppm, over 10,000 ppm, over11,000 ppm, or over 12,000 ppm calcium carbonate equivalent.

“Water softening,” as used herein, refers to removing hardness from thewater. “Partial water softening,” as used herein, refers to removingless than 95% of the total hardness from the water.

As used herein “boiler quality water” refers to water with TDS less than20 and hardness levels less than 0.5 ppm, or equal to 0 ppm.“Once-through steam generator quality water” refers to water withhardness levels less than 0.5 ppm.

“Produced water” refers to water that is produced along with oil or gasin an oil or gas recovery process.

“Hydraulic retention time” (HRT) refers to a measure of the averagelength of time that a liquid remains in a holding vessel (e.g. aclarification module). Hydraulic retention time is the volume of theclarification module divided by the influent flowrate.

“Membrane filtration” refers to a separation process with the use of atleast a membrane to act as a filter that would let water flow through,while it catches suspended solids and other substances. In the membranefiltration modules and driven by any of pressure, vacuum or electricalforce (electro-dialysis or ED), part of the liquid passes through themembrane. This fraction is called “permeate” or “filtrate”, while thefraction that does not pass through the membrane is called “retentate”or “concentrate”.

“Microfiltration” (MF) refers to a low pressure (e.g., 5 to 45 psi or0.34 to 3 bar) membrane filtration process for the retention ofsuspended material. Microfiltration removes particles of 50 nm orlarger. Smaller particles (salts, sugars and proteins, for example) passthrough the membrane.

“Ultrafiltration” (UF) refers to a medium pressure (7 to 150 psi or 0.48to 10 bar) membrane filtration process, for the retention of colloids,biological matters, etc. Ultrafiltration removes particles of roughly 3nm or larger.

“Nanofiltration” (NF) refers to a membrane filtration process withoperating pressure of 120 to 600 psi (or 8 to 41 bar), that would allowwater and monovalent ions as well as low molecular weight substances(e.g., less than 250 Daltons) to pass through the membranes.Nanofiltration removes particles of 1 nm or larger. Divalent ormultivalent ions and salts are retained.

“Reverse Osmosis” (RO) filtration refers to a high pressure membranefiltration process (300 to 850 psi or 21 to 59 bar, but can be greaterthan 1000 psi) that retains almost all particles and ionic species andsubstances with molecular weight over 50 Dalton, while allowing waterand some organic molecules to pass through. Reverse osmosis removesparticles larger than 0.1 nm.

With regard to filter or membrane operation, “retentate” refers to thatwhich is retained (or rejected) by the filter or porous membrane, and“permeate” refers to that which passes through the filter or porousmembrane. Unless the context recommends an alternative meaning, theterms “concentrate”, “concentrate stream”, “reject stream” and“retentate stream” are synonymous with “retentate”. Likewise, the terms“filtrate”, “filtrate stream” and “permeate stream” are synonymous with“permeate”.

Crude oil and natural gas production often involves use of large amountsof water. Stimulating the subterranean formation to enhance oil and gasproduction from the formation is often conducted using large amounts ofsteam or liquid water. Various types of wastewater may be treated toprovide the source water for enhanced oil recovery. Produced water isone water source that may be employed. A method is provided forpurifying produced water for various uses. In one embodiment, theproduced water is freed from any associated gases with which it isproduced from the formation. The produced water is then pretreated toremove oil and particulates. Clarified water that is produced bypretreatment is then purified in a membrane purification system toproduce purified water. The purified water that is prepared using thepresent method may be used as base fluid for water, polymer orsurfactant flooding, or as boiler feed water for steam generation. Inone embodiment, the purified water meets the specifications forindustrial uses; in one embodiment, for municipal and domestic uses.

A media filter is a type of filter that uses a bed of one or more ofnutshell filter media, oyster shell filter media, sand, peat, shreddedtires, foam, crushed glass, geo-textile fabric, crushed granite or othermaterial to filter water as at least a part of the pretreatment process.An exemplary media filter includes size graded media within the filter,with water passing through the filter contacting media of decreasingsize and/or increasing adsorption in passage through the filter. In oneembodiment, produced water is pretreated for membrane filtrationpurification by passing through one or more multimedia filters selectedfrom nutshell filters, ceramic ultrafiltration filters, polymericultrafiltration membranes and combinations. In one embodiment,pretreating comprises dual filtering involving a nutshell filterfollowed by a polymeric ultrafiltration filter.

In one embodiment, a method is provided for producing boiler feed waterby pretreating produced water using a preliminary filtering to removeoil and particulates without a softening step. In one embodiment,pretreating the produced water includes one or both of a filtering stepand a settling step, in any order, with no produced water softeninginvolving warm lime softening, seeding softening or ion exchangesoftening.

In one embodiment, purified water produced as described herein containsless than 500 ppm TDS in one embodiment; less than 200 ppm TDS in asecond embodiment; and less than 20 ppm in a third embodiment. Thepurified water contains less than 10 ppm hardness in one embodiment;less than 0.5 ppm hardness in a second embodiment; and less than 0.1 ppmhardness in a third embodiment; The purified water contains less than 20ppm silica in one embodiment; less than 10 ppm silica in a secondembodiment; less than 5 ppm silica in a third embodiment; and less than1 ppm silica in a fourth embodiment.

A single pass RO system may be used to produce the purified water forsteam-flooding or water-flooding. A two pass RO system may be used toproduce the purified water for boiler feed water. Purified water that isproduced as boiler feed water may contain no more than 0.004 ppmhardness, no more than 0.1 ppm silica and no more than 19 ppm TDS. Whenused for steam-flooding or water-flooding, the purified water maycontain no more than 0.1 ppm hardness, no more than 5 ppm silica and nomore than 200 ppm TDS.

In one embodiment, the method is useful for preparing purified waterfrom any feed water source, including waste water from natural,industrial, municipal or domestic sources. While waste water from avariety of sources may be treated with the method, in one embodiment,the feed water to the pretreatment step comprises produced water fromcrude oil or natural gas extraction processes, e.g., formation water,aquifer, and injected water. The formation water may originate from awater saturated zone within the reservoir or zones above or below thepay zone. Many reservoirs are adjacent to an active aquifer and aresubject to bottom or edge water drive. Water is often injected into oilreservoirs for pressure maintenance or secondary recovery purposes. Theinjected water is one of sources of produced water.

The produced water can contain contaminants in quantities ranging frominsignificant to slurry. The term “contaminants” as used herein refersto oil, solid particulates and dissolved solids in produced water, e.g.,sources of TDS, solids, sand and silt, carbonates, clays, proppant,corrosion products, and other suspended solids. Both inorganic andorganic contaminants may occur in produced water. Dispersed oil consistsof small droplets suspended in the aqueous phase. Factors that affectthe concentration of dispersed oil in produced water include oildensity, interfacial tension between oil and water phases, type andefficiency of chemical treatment, and type, size, and efficiency of thephysical separation equipment. Examples of inorganic constituents thatmay occur in produced water are in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Concentration Range Constituent Units Low High Median TDS mg/L100 400,000 50,000 Sodium mg/L 0 150,000 9.400 Chloride mg/L 0 250,00029,000 Barium mg/L 0 850 N/A Strontium mg/L 0 6,250 N/A Sulfate mg/L 015,000 500 Bicarbonate mg/L 0 15,000 400 Calcium mg/L 0 74,000 1,500

The contaminants may include inorganic contaminants, organiccontaminants, or both. Organic contaminants may include hydrocarbonsthat occur naturally in produced water, e.g., organic acids, polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phenols, and volatiles. In one embodiment,the feed produced water comprises organic components that are verysoluble in produced water, e.g., low molecular weight (C₂-C₅) carboxylicacids (fatty acids), ketones, and alcohols. They include acetic andpropionic acid, acetone, and methanol. In some produced waters, theconcentration of these components is greater than 5,000 ppm.

The produced water may contain scales, which form when ions insupersaturated produced water react to form precipitates when pressuresand temperatures are decreased during production. Common scales includecalcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, barium sulfate, strontium sulfate,and iron sulfate. In one embodiment, the produced water feed maycomprise metals such as zinc, lead, manganese, iron, and barium. Metalsconcentrations in produced water are often higher than those inseawater.

Produced water may contain soluble inorganic salts, including, forexample, one or more of calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium,bicarbonates, chlorides, and sulfates.

Composition of the produced water that is the feed to the process mayalso be quantified by a determination of total dissolved solids (TDS)content. Exemplary inorganic salts in TDS include calcium, magnesium,potassium, sodium, bicarbonates, chlorides, and sulfates, as well assmall amounts of organic matter dissolved in the produced water. In oneembodiment, the produced water feed has a TDS content of greater than5000 mg/L; in another embodiment, greater than 2000 mg/L; in anotherembodiment, greater than 1000 mg/L. The produced water contains in arange from 50 to 500 mg/L silica in one embodiment; in a range from 100to 300 mg/L sodium in a second embodiment.

In the process, produced water is pretreated to remove particulates andoil. Pretreatment processes may include one or more of filtering,deoiling, flotation, coagulation and precipitation, and pH adjustment.

A media filter is a type of filter that uses a bed of one or more ofnutshell filter media, oyster shell filter media, sand, peat, shreddedtires, foam, crushed glass, geo-textile fabric, crushed granite or othermaterial to filter water as at least a part of the pretreatment process.An exemplary media filter includes size graded media within the filter,with water passing through the filter contacting media of decreasingsize and/or increasing adsorption in passage through the filter.

A pre-treatment filtering step may be employed to remove a largeproportion of oil, particulates and other contaminants from the producedwater, e.g., particulates that are more than 2 μm in size. Any filtermedia suitable for removal of the target contaminant or contaminants maybe used so long as it is also suitable for use in a filter bed, e.g.,nutshell filter media, such as media made from English walnut shells andblack walnut shells. Nutshell filter media is known for its affinity forboth water and oil, making it a desirable filter media that is typicallyused for the removal of oil from water and wastewater. Conventionalnutshell filters include pressurized deep bed applications in which thewater is forced through a bed depth. Periodic backwashes are alsoroutinely conducted to regenerate the bed. Typical backwash methodsinclude expanding or turning the bed by imparting energy to the bed.

In one embodiment, oyster shells are useful, either alone or incombination with nut shell filtering, for removing water soluble organiccontaminants and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene)contaminants from the produced water. In one embodiment of a filtersystem with oyster shell material, the produced water feed stream isintroduced at the top of a packed column containing the shell material,and the outlet stream is collected at the bottom of the column. In oneembodiment with the use of oyster shell, CaCO₃ may be added to theproduced water outlet as more than 90% of oyster shell component isCaCO₃. Additionally the pH may be adjusted as the shells supplysufficient alkalinity to enhance the pH. Furthermore, the use of oystershell removes phosphorous in the produced water by producing calciumphosphate precipitation.

In one embodiment with a produced water having a pH of greater than 9,the removal efficiency ranges from 70-90% for BTEX, phenol, andphosphorous for hydraulic retention time (HRT) of at least 2 hours. Theremoval efficiency is at least 85% for HRT of at least 4 hours.

Membrane purification of clarified water may be improved by furtherclarifying the produced water using ultrafiltration. For example,particulates present in the produced water, or particulates formedduring one or more of softening, seeding, nutshell filtering and oystershell filtering may be further removed by a preliminary ultrafiltrationprior to membrane purification of the clarified water. Anultrafiltration step produces a clarified water containing particulatesthat are at most 10 μm in size in one embodiment; at most 5 μm in sizein a second embodiment; and at most 2 μm in size in a third embodiment.Ultrafiltration may also remove at least a portion of oil (e.g. freeoil) from the produced water; the clarified water after ultrafiltrationcontains at most 50 ppm oil in one embodiment; at most 20 ppm in asecond embodiment; at most 5 ppm in a third embodiment; and at most 2ppm in a fourth embodiment.

In one embodiment of the pre-treatment, conventional backwash stepsincluding mechanical mixing and mechanical scrubbing with impellors andrecycle lines, as well as high velocity gas or high velocity water in acountercurrent direction may be used for cleaning. Mechanical systemsused to backwash beds increase the initial costs of the system and maylead to increased maintenance costs to service mechanical seals.Recirculation of the bed also increases the initial and maintenancecosts of the filter unit and increases the footprint of the filter unitwith additional pumps for recirculation. The mechanical backwash methodsalso utilize backwash fluid to remove any oil and suspended solidsreleased from the bed, which leads to the generation of significantamounts of backwash fluid. Similarly, the use of high velocity backwashliquid generates a large volume of backwash fluid. Conventional backwashsystems are also known to create dead spots in which the filter media isnot sufficiently turned and/or in which the backwash fluid does notreach, effectively leaving oil and suspended solids in the bed.

In some embodiments, the produced water feed may be deoiled beforepre-treatment. Deoiling processes are known. The deoiling process maycomprise chemical and/or mechanical means, or combinations thereof.Suitable chemical processes include, for example, use of emulsionbreakers, reverse breakers, sorbents, specialty chemicals orcombinations thereof. Emulsion breakers are designed to remove oil froma water continuous phase, while reverse breakers are designed to removeoil from a water continuous matrix. The inclusion of sorbents is toremove both submicron oil and/or emulsified oils from the water. Analternate embodiment allows for the use specialty chemicals to enhancethe oil/water separation. Such specialty chemicals may be added prior toor directly to a flotation step in the process. Mechanical means mayinvolve membranes or other separation devices. In the case of membranes,ceramic or polymeric membranes may be used, and if the latter, thepolymeric membranes may be microfilters, ultrafilters, nanofilters, orany combinations thereof. Mechanical means may also involve the use ofcentrifugal separators or cyclonic separators.

Produced water following the deoiling treatment contains at most 50 ppmoil (e.g. free oil) in one embodiment; at most 20 ppm in a secondembodiment; at most 5 ppm in a third embodiment; and at most 2 ppm in afourth embodiment. It is anticipated that a flotation unit can remove upto about 95% of oil and some of the gases, such as hydrogen sulfide andcarbon dioxide, from water.

In one embodiment, the pretreatment process includes using aclarification module, optionally followed by flotation units andfilters. The clarification module has sufficient capacity to provide thehydraulic retention time needed for separating oil and particulates fromthe water. In one embodiment, the clarification module has a hydraulicretention time, based on the volumetric flow rate of produced water tothe module, of greater than 1 minute. In one embodiment instead of or inaddition to deoiling, a skimming process may be used to remove the oillayer from the water; clarified water is also produced, leaving a sludgematerial in the clarification module for separate removal. A subsequentfiltering step through a bed of an adsorbent such as clay, diatomaceousearth, oyster shell, or a nutshell filter may be used to remove the lasttraces of oil in the produced water.

The settling step, optionally followed by filtering, produces clarifiedwater having a turbidity of no more than 1.5 NTU unit in one embodiment;no more than 1.0 NTU unit in a second embodiment; no more than 0.5 NTUunit in a third embodiment; and no more than 0.2 NTU unit in a fourthembodiment.

In one embodiment, the pre-treatment process includes an optionalfloatation process for removing oil and particulates. Flotation methodsfor water treatment are known. In general, they involve incorporating anadequate amount of gas into the liquid stream as small bubbles in orderto provide the required physical contact between the surface of theparticles of foreign matter, e.g. oil droplets or suspended solidparticles, and the surface of the gas bubbles. Flotation is thusinfluenced by the collision between bubbles and the particles of foreignmatter, the formation of flocs of particles and the adsorption ofbubbles onto the particles and the floc structures. The bubble/particleinteractions are governed by the surface chemistry of the system and itwill be appreciated that on contact these surfaces must adhere ratherthan be repulsed. Separation of the oil and particulates from the watergenerally occur in a vessel. A sufficiently large quiescent flotationregion is provided in the vessel so that the particles/gas bubbles canrise to the surface of the liquid and be removed.

The above pretreatment steps are conducted at a temperature in a rangefrom 20° C. to 200° C. in one embodiment; from 100° C. to 200° C. in asecond embodiment; and from 120° C. to 200° C. in a third embodiment.

Hardness values for the produced water relate to the concentration ofmultivalent cations, represented in parts per million (ppm). Typicallythe multivalent cations are calcium, magnesium, strontium and barium.The total hardness is a summation of calcium, magnesium, strontium, andbarium ions in terms of calcium carbonate equivalent values. Theproduced water may have a hardness of up to more than 1000 ppm in someembodiments, up to more than 5000 ppm in other embodiments. In oneembodiment, the clarified water is provided to the membrane unit forpurification without a softening pretreatment, the clarified watercontaining greater than 5000 ppm hardness in one embodiment; greaterthan 1000 ppm hardness in a second embodiment; greater than 100 ppmhardness in a third embodiment; and in a range from 100 to 10,000 ppmhardness in a fourth embodiment. In one embodiment, the clarified waterthat is provided to the membrane unit is partially softened, with up to95% of the hardness being removed by pretreatment partial softening.Partially softened produced water contains less than 50 ppm hardness inone embodiment; less than 25 ppm in a second embodiment; and less than15 ppm in a third embodiment. Fully softened produced water that may beused contains less than 1 ppm hardness in one embodiment; less than 0.1ppm hardness in a second embodiment; and less than 0.01 ppm hardness ina third embodiment.

In one embodiment, the produced water may be partially softened in apartial softening unit prior to or in addition to pre-filtering. Theunit may use chemical softening or an ion-exchange resin based softeningunit. In one embodiment of the method, partially softening the producedwater by chemical softening is not necessary in order to achieve targetpurity levels in the purified water produced in the process.

Softening processes using a chemical treatment for removing hardnessfrom produced water are known. For example, partial softening could beachieved by the addition of sodium carbonate, sodium bi-carbonate, lime,magnesium salts, caustic, or combination of these salts. One example ofa commercial chemical softening process is a hot or warm lime softeningprocess. An exemplary warm lime process operates at near atmosphericpressure and a temperature between about 150° F. to about 200° F. in oneembodiment, between about 150° F. to about 180° F. in a secondembodiment. In the case of chemical softening, the chemicals cause apartial precipitation of the hardness materials from the water, whichmay then be followed by thickener unit and/or a clarification unit (aspart of pre-filtering treatment) prior to entering the membrane modules.Thickening units are used for promoting precipitation of the solids. Forhandling the oily produced water, thickening units promote theseparation of oil from water. These units may have means to promotethickening of the solids, while others use recirculation of solids toprovide seeding to the incoming chemically treated fluids. A coagulationchemical may be added to promote the precipitations. Exemplarycoagulants include ferric chloride, ferric sulfate, aluminum sulfate,polyaluminum chloride or other forms of iron or aluminum. A clarifierunit takes the upper layer of water (after solid separation) to befurther clarified. Some clarifier units may be equipped with inclinebaffles near the top of the tank to coagulate and settle the residualsolids.

In one embodiment prior to the membrane purification step, the pH of theproduced water may be adjusted depending on the quality of the producedwater feed and/or the type of membrane purification employed. The pH isadjusted to about 3 to 9 to reduce scaling in the membrane in oneembodiment; from 3 to 7.9 in a second embodiment; and from 9 to 11.5 ina third embodiment. In yet another embodiment, the pH of the producedwater is adjusted to cause seeding, i.e., precipitation of hardnessmaterials, as well as oil, silt, solids and biospecies in the producedwater.

Seeding involves supplying an additive to cause some of the ionicspecies in the produced water to form insoluble particulates. Whilesettling, these insoluble particulates increase in size by adsorbingother insoluble and nearly insoluble ions as well as the othercontaminants in the produced water, carrying all to the bottom of aclarification module and leaving behind purified produced water withreduced hardness. In one embodiment, an alkaline chemical is added tothe produced water to initiate the seeding process. Illustrative,non-limiting alkaline chemicals include caustic or sodium hydroxide;soda ash or sodium carbonate in anhydrous or in one or more of thehydrated forms; lime or one or more of its constituents, includingcalcium oxide, calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate in any of thevarious anhydrous or hydrated forms in which these materials occur; andmagnesium oxide.

In one embodiment, sufficient alkaline chemical is added to the producedwater to increase the pH of the water by at most 2 numbers; in anotherembodiment, by at most 1 number. In one embodiment, sufficient alkalinechemical is added to a produced water to yield produced water having anNTU value of greater than 2.5; in another embodiment in a range from 2.5to 1000. The produced water in combination with the alkaline chemical ispermitted to settle for a sufficient time to produce clarified waterhaving an NTU value of no more than 1.5; in one embodiment no more than1.0; in one embodiment no more than 0.2.

In one embodiment, partial softening is achieved through the use of anion exchange water softener. Softeners include ion-exchange resins inwhich multivalent ions are exchanged for ions located on the resins,such as Na+. Water softeners include weak acid cation (WAC) and strongacid cation (SAC) softeners, either may be used. In one embodiment, noWAC softeners are used and approximately half the number of SAC softenerunits are used than what would be used for full softening of the water.In a second embodiment, no ion exchange is used in pretreating theproduced water to make the clarified water.

An antiscalant may be added to the water prior to going through themembrane filtering system to prevent fouling of the membrane. Examplesof antiscalants include HCl, sulfuric acid, or other types of acids,and/or conventional scale inhibitors.

Clarified water may be treated with an acid prior to the membrane tofurther reduce scaling tendencies of the clarified water. In oneembodiment, an acid such as hydrochloric acid is used to reduce the pHof the clarified water. In one embodiment, the sufficient acid is addedto the clarified water prior to the RO membrane treatment to a pH in arange from 5 to 7.9.

In an exemplary illustrated process, produced water having a pH in arange from 5 to 6.8 is treated with an alkaline chemical to increase thepH to a value in a range from 7.1 to 7.8, and the combination permittedto settle in a clarification module for a time to produce clarifiedwater having a turbidity of no more than 0.5 NTU units. In oneembodiment, at least the clarified water is passed through a filter toremove residual particulate matter. The clarified water followingseparation is acidified slightly to reduce the pH to a value within arange, for example, of from 5 to 6.8; the produced water is then treatedusing a membrane purification system.

In one embodiment, pretreated produced water is not pH-adjusted inpreparation for RO membrane purification. In one embodiment, theclarified water that is the feed to the membrane purification system,having a pH in a range from 3 to 7.9, is passed through a filter mediumselected from the group consisting of nutshell filters and polymericultrafiltration membranes. Clarified water that is recovered therefromis passed, without additional softening or pH modification, to amembrane purification system, from which a purified water is recovered.

If present, particulates in the clarified water are at most 5 μm in sizein one embodiment; and at most 2 μm in size in a second embodiment. Theclarified water contains less than 50 ppm oil in one embodiment; lessthan 20 ppm oil in a second embodiment; less than 5 ppm oil in a thirdembodiment; and less than 2 ppm oil in a fourth embodiment. Theclarified water has a turbidity of no more than 1.5 NTU unit in a firstembodiment; no more than 1.0 NTU units in a second embodiment; no morethan 0.5 NTU units in a third embodiment; and no more than 0.2 NTU unitsin a fourth embodiment. The clarified water feed to membranepurification has a pH in a range from 3 to 9 in one embodiment; from 3to 7.9 in a second embodiment; and from 3 to 6 in a third embodiment. Inone embodiment, the clarified water has a TDS content of greater than5000 mg/L; in another embodiment, greater than 2000 mg/L; in anotherembodiment, greater than 1000 mg/L.

Membrane purification is a membrane-based separation process thatprocesses the clarified water as feed to make the purified waterproduct. Membrane purification removes particulates, hardness, TDS, andfree and dissolved oil to the low levels required of the purified water.

A membrane purification system that is used in the method may includeultrafiltration membranes, reverse osmosis membranes, or a combinationof the two, in any order. The membrane purification system may includeone or more membrane modules, with each module including a plurality ofmembrane elements. In general, a membrane element is taken to representone membrane. The number and type of membranes within a particularmodule may be the same or different. Likewise, the number and type ofmembranes within a membrane unit and within the membrane system may bethe same or different. In one embodiment, the clarified water feed tomembrane purification contains greater than 100,000 ppm TDS (e.g. in arange from 100,000 to 200,000 ppm TDS), and ultrafiltration membranesare employed in the membrane purification system. In a secondembodiment, the clarified water feed contains less than 100,000 ppm TDS,and RO membranes are employed for purification.

The membrane purification system may include a plurality of membranemodules in series flow, with one stream from a module being passed inseries flow to the next module in the series, and with a second streamfrom the module being recovered for further treatment, for disposal, orfor other uses. In one embodiment, permeate is cascaded through theplurality of membrane modules in series flow, with the retentate fromeach module being recovered for disposal or further treatment. In asecond embodiment, the retentate is cascaded through the plurality ofmembrane modules in series flow, and permeate is recovered from eachmodule for further treatment or for use elsewhere. In a thirdembodiment, the system may include a plurality of membrane modules inparallel. Each train of modules in the parallel configuration maycascade a permeate stream or a retentate stream from one or morepreceding modules in series flow.

In one embodiment, the membrane purification system is operated atconditions to remove both ammonia and boron from the clarified water.The embodiment includes the steps of passing the clarified water througha first membrane module comprising a plurality of membrane elements,wherein the clarified water contains at least ammonia and boron and hasa pH in a range from 8 to 11.5; producing a first permeate stream and afirst retentate stream from the first membrane module, wherein the boronremaining in the first permeate stream is less 25 mg/L; acid adjustingthe first permeate stream to produce a second membrane module feedhaving a pH in a range from 3.5 to 7.9; passing the second membranemodule feed to a second membrane module comprising a plurality ofmembrane elements; producing a second permeate stream and a secondretentate stream from the second membrane module, wherein the ammoniaremaining in the second permeate stream is less than 25 ppm, andrecovering a purified water, having less than 1 ppm hardness from themembrane purification system.

In one embodiment, the pH in the first membrane module is in a rangefrom 9 to 11.5. In one embodiment, the pH in the second membrane moduleis in a range from 5 to 7.9. The boron remaining in the first permeatestream is less than 5 mg/L in a second embodiment; less than 1 mg/L in athird embodiment; and less than 0.5 mg/L in a fourth embodiment. Theammonia remaining in the second permeate stream is less than 10 ppm in asecond embodiment; and less than 5 ppm in a third embodiment.

In another embodiment, the order of boron and ammonia separation fromthe clarified water is reversed, with the ammonia being removed from thefirst permeate stream at a pH in a range from 3.5 to 7.9 in oneembodiment; and from 5 to 7.9 in a second embodiment. Boron is removedfrom the second permeate stream at a pH in a range from 8 to 11.5 in oneembodiment; and from 9 to 11.5 in a second embodiment.

In one embodiment, the method for purifying the clarified water from apretreatment process includes managing the potential for scale formationand membrane degradation within the membrane purification system. Inthis embodiment, at least one membrane element is monitored for thedevelopment of increased turbidity or increased scaling within themembrane element or within the retentate stream that is passed to themembrane element from a preceding element. When an undesirable operationis detected within one or more membrane elements, the feed to theelement is treated to reduce turbidity and scaling tendency of the feed.In one embodiment, at least a portion of the feed to the element isrecycled to the feed to the membrane module of which the membraneelement is a member. In one embodiment, at least a portion of the feedto the element is treated in-situ by one or more of filtering, pHadjustment, purified water addition to reduce the concentration of thesources of turbidity and scaling, addition of antiscalant, and partialsoftening. In one embodiment, at least a portion of the feed to themembrane element is removed to a separate clarification module forconducting the treatment. Again, one or more of filtering, pHadjustment, coagulation, seeding, purified water addition to reduce theconcentration of the sources of turbidity and scaling, addition ofantiscalant, and partial softening may be used. The clarified feed tothe element is recycled to the module for further processing.

One embodiment of the method includes passing clarified water through atleast one membrane module comprising a plurality of membrane elements inseries flow, each succeeding membrane element after the first receivinga retentate fraction from the preceding membrane element as feed,wherein the concentration of contaminants in the retentate fractionincreases as the fraction cascades to each of the plurality of membraneelements in series; selecting a membrane element in contact with theretentate fraction as feed that has a turbidity that exceeds 0.5 NTUunits; treating at least a portion of the retentate feed fraction to theselect membrane element and restoring the turbidity of the retentatefeed fraction to no more than 0.5 NTU units.

In one embodiment, treatment includes removing at least a portion of theretentate fraction from the select membrane element; settling theremoved retentate fraction in a clarification module and recoveringclarified water having a turbidity of at most 0.5 NTU units and a solidwaste; and returning the clarified water to the membrane module.

In one embodiment, treatment includes adding a coagulant to theretentate fraction in the clarification module. The coagulant may beselected, for example, from sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide.Alternatively, the coagulant may be selected, for example, from ferricchloride, ferric sulfate, aluminum sulfate, polyaluminum chloride orother forms of iron or aluminum.

In one embodiment, treatment includes filtering the clarified water fromthe clarification module and passing the filtered clarified water to theselect membrane element. In one embodiment, treatment includes addingfresh or purified water to the clarification module.

The feed to the membrane element may be treated in-situ, includingadding fresh or purified water to the retentate fraction in contact withthe select membrane element; adjusting the pH of the retentate fractionin contact with the select membrane element; or by recycling at least aportion of the retentate fraction in contact with the select membraneelement to the clarified water that is the feed to the at least onemembrane module.

The purified water from the method contains less than 5 mg/L boron inone embodiment; less than 1 mg/L boron in a second embodiment; and lessthan 0.5 mg/L boron in a third embodiment. The purified water containsless than 25 mg/L ammonia In one embodiment; less than 10 mg/L ammoniain a second embodiment; and less than 5 mg/L ammonia in a thirdembodiment. The purified water contains less than 5 ppm hardness in afirst embodiment; less than 1 ppm hardness in a second embodiment; lessthan 0.5 ppm hardness in a third embodiment; and less than 0.2 ppmhardness in a fourth embodiment. The purified water contains less than100 ppm TDS in one embodiment; less than 10 ppm TDS in a secondembodiment; and less than 1 ppm TDS in a third embodiment. The purifiedwater has a pH in a range from 3 to 9 in one embodiment; from 3 to 7.9in a second embodiment; and from 3 to 6 in a third embodiment. Thepurified water contains less than 10 ppm oil in one embodiment; lessthan 5 ppm oil in a second embodiment; and less than 2 ppm oil in athird embodiment. In a fourth embodiment, oil in the purified water isbelow the detection limit for free and dissolved oil. The purified waterhas a turbidity of no more than 1.5 NTU units in a first embodiment; nomore than 1.0 NTU units in a second embodiment; no more than 0.5 NTUunites in a third embodiment; and no more than 0.2 NTU units in a fourthembodiment.

The purified water contains no particulates of size larger than 1 nm inone embodiment; and no particulates of size larger than 0.5 nm in asecond embodiment; and no particulates of size larger than 0.1 nm in athird embodiment. The purified water contains less than 50 mg/L silicain one embodiment; less than 30 mg/L silica in a second embodiment; in arange from 0.05 to 50 mg/L silica in a third embodiment; and in a rangefrom 1 to 30 mg/L silica in a fourth embodiment.

In one embodiment, the water treatment system is provided with aplurality of sensors to monitor the quality of the water in-between theprocess steps, e.g., the pretreated water stream, the water from themembrane filtering system, the reject stream, etc. The feedback from thesensor provides control parameters for one or more process steps toensure the quality of the water feed and the purified water from themembrane system. Sensors include but are not limited to conductivitysensors, turbidity sensors, particulate sensors, and pH sensors.

Turbidity can be generally measured by using a turbidity meter, forexample, a Hach Co. Model 2100 P Turbidimeter. A turbidity meter is anephelometer that consists of a light source that illuminates awater/oil sample and a photoelectric cell that measures the intensity oflight scattered at a 90° angle by the particles in the sample. Atransmitted light detector also receives light that passes through thesample. The signal output (units in nephelometric turbidity units orNTUs) of the turbidimeter is a ratio of the two detectors. Meters canmeasure turbidity over a wide range from 0 to 1000 NTUs. The instrumentmust meet US-EPA design criteria as specified in US-EPA method 180.1.

In one embodiment, the method is useful for preparing an injection fluidfor waterflood applications. Particulates in injection fluids are knownto seriously impact the effectiveness of a particular injection fluid.Tight formations, in particular, may be plagued by slow water injection,or formation plugging due to injected oil, solids, silts, bacteria andother materials.

In one embodiment of the method, produced water is pretreated to removeoil, solids, and silts from produced water, and followed by using amembrane purification system or a nanofiltration (NF) membrane system toremove oil and solids from the water to very low levels. Since the RO orNF membranes will also remove the hardness materials (such as calcium,magnesium, strontium, and barium); and large molecules (such assulfates, nitrates, carbonates, and some chlorides); this high qualitytreated water could be used in various applications, such as waterflood,enhanced recovery in steamflood, chemical flood (CEOR), or low salinityinjection, etc. Since, in this embodiment, the RO or NF treated permeatewater has no measurable oil, solids, and silts, it significantlyimproves the injectivities of purified water prepared in this way.Further, use of this purified water for waterflooding decreases thefrequency of well workovers. Use of this purified water also enablesmore effective enhanced recovery (EOR) with steam and chemical flood(CEOR) into the tight formations. Due to the importance of injectingwater to follow the conformance into the designated path, the reservoirstreated with the purified water do not require fracturing, but merelyusing the membrane process to enhance their performances.

The following Table II illustrates the results from an operation basedon this embodiment.

TABLE II Specified Size of Particles to be Maximum TSS in Half Life ofthe Removed, μm Effluent Water, mg/L Injection Well, days 2.0 <0.02 4485(12 years) 5.0 <0.73 563 (1.5 years) 10.0 <4.81 100 (3 months)

In one embodiment of a waterflooding process for enhanced oil recovery(EOR), the purified water from the membrane filter has no measurable TSS(Total Suspended, non-Filterable Solids), and with the particle size ofoil and solids of the molecular sizes, such as <<0.001 μm range, it isexpected that the purified water may allow EOR operation with well lifeapproaching infinity.

FIG. 1 illustrates a water purification system comprising a pretreatmentstep 20 followed by a two-stage membrane purification system 10.Produced water 18 is supplied to the pretreatment step 20 forconditioning prior to purification in a membrane purification system 10.Conditioning may include one or more of particulate removal, softeningto remove hardness in the produced water, and pH adjustment. Theclarified water recovered from pretreatment contains particulates thatare at most 2 μm in size, and no more than 2 ppm total oil content,wherein the total oil includes free, soluble and emulsified oil. Theclarified water 22 recovered from pretreatment is also pH-adjusted for apH in a range from 3 to 7.9. These pretreatment processes are conductedto prepare clarified water 22, having a NTU value of no more than 1.0,for purification in the membrane purification system.

The embodiment of the membrane purification system 10 illustrated inFIG. 1 comprises one or more membrane units 40 and 70. Membrane unit 40comprises membrane modules 42, 44 and 46, and membrane unit 70 comprisesmembrane module 72, with each module comprising one or more membraneelements. A membrane element is generally taken to represent onemembrane; a plurality of membranes in close proximity, all in contactwith the same feed, may in some situation be taken to represent amembrane element. The number and type of membranes within a particularmodule may be the same or different. Likewise, the number and type ofmembranes within a membrane unit and within the membrane system may bethe same or different.

A unit may comprise one or more modules in series or parallel flow withrespect to each other. When at least two modules (e.g., 42 and 46) arearranged in parallel flow, flow rate to each of the at least two modulesmay be the same or different. For modules arranged in series flow withrespect to each other (e.g., 42 and 44), fluids are passed in seriesfrom the first module to the last. Within modules, membrane elements maybe arranged in series or in parallel flow.

When the membrane purification system 10 comprises a plurality ofmembrane units, at least one retentate stream 60 from a precedingmembrane unit 40 other than the last unit in the series is passed to asucceeding membrane unit 70 for further purification.

As shown in FIG. 1, clarified water 22 from the pretreatment step 18 ispassed to the membrane purification system having two units in seriesflow of retentate with respect to each other. Prior to purification,clarified water 22 may be combined with one or more optional recyclestreams in manifold 80, the blend being passed as stream 26 to unit 40.The membrane purification system purifies the produced water 22 andproduces purified water 78 suitable for use in oil recovery aswaterflood and chemical flood, as boiler feedwater for steam generation,for industrial uses and, in embodiments, for municipal and domesticuses. A waste stream 76 containing a substantial portion of thecontaminants removed from the clarified water 22 is also produced. Themembrane purification system includes a plurality of membrane elementsthat effectively recover a significant portion of the water in theproduced water as purified, useable water. In one embodiment, thevolumetric recovery ratio of purified water to waste stream from themembrane purification system is at least 3:1 (i.e. 3 volumes of purifiedwater recovered for each volume of waste stream); in another embodiment,at least 4:1; in another embodiment, at least 9:1; in anotherembodiment, at least 19:1.

The membrane purification system 10 in this illustrative embodimentincludes two units 40 and 70 in serial flow. Module 40 illustrates a twopass modular configuration, with permeate 66 from module 42 passing tomodule 44 for additional purification. The two pass configuration is inparallel flow with module 46, which passes a permeate stream 50 to becombined with permeate streams 48 and 74 to produce purified water 78.Retentate streams 56, 58 and 64 are combined as feed to module 72, fromwhich is removed waste stream 76, which is the waste stream from themembrane purification system 10. On account of the decreasing amount ofretentate with each membrane element in series, module 72 may includefewer membrane elements than upstream module 46. As shown in FIG. 1,each succeeding unit treats the retentate generated from the ROseparation in the preceding unit, with the result that the volumetricflow of retentate to each unit after the first unit is less than theflow to a succeeding unit. Thus, in the embodiment illustrated in FIG.1, the 1st membrane unit includes three modules, and the 2nd unitincludes a single module. Each of the modules may be the same ordifferent; modules (e.g. 42 and 46) in parallel flow may treat the sameor different amounts fluid; they may have the same number and type of ROmembranes, or different types and numbers of membranes.

In the embodiment of the method illustrated in FIG. 1, the clarifiedwater that is used as feed to the membrane purification system has beenpretreated to the extent to mitigate scaling or precipitation of organicand inorganic materials on the first RO element that the clarified watercontacts. It is not necessary to formulate the clarified water to ensurethat no scaling occurs on any membrane within the membrane purificationsystem. Accordingly, the clarified water is maintained to containparticulates that are at most 2 μm in size, and to contain no more than2 ppm total oil content. In addition, the pH of the clarified water ismaintained in a range from 6-8, and the NTU value of the water ismaintained to be no more than 1.0, prior to purifying the water in theRO system. It is not necessary to condition the produced water to a pHof greater than 9.5 for example, as in the conventional process, suchthat scaling does not occur through the membrane purification system.

Details of an embodiment of the purification method in membrane module110, having five elements, are illustrated in FIG. 2. RO membrane module110 comprises a plurality of RO membrane elements 120, 130, 140, 150 and160 in series flow. The feed 170 to the module 110 passes to a 1stelement 120, comprising one or more RO membranes. Retentate (124, 134,144, 154, and 190) from each element is passed in turn to a succeedingelement (130, 140, 150, and 160) in series flow, each element removingadditional amounts of purified permeate water (126, 136, 146, 156, and166) from the retentate. Each succeeding RO membrane element after thefirst receives a contaminant-enriched stream (e.g., 124, 134, 144 and154) from the preceding RO membrane element as feed, wherein theconcentration of contaminants in the contaminant-enriched streamincreases as the stream cascades past each of the plurality of ROmembrane elements 120, 130, 140, 150 and 160 in series flow. Retentatestream 190 is passed from the module for recovery as purified water oras feed to further downstream processing.

As a result, the contaminant concentration of the retentate streamincreases as it passes through the module, and the solubilitycharacteristics of the retentate solution are changed, leading to anincreased probability that one or more components of the retentate willprecipitate, increasing turbidity and possibly forming scale on themembrane in one of the elements in serial flow through the module. Inone embodiment, a high turbidity is due to silica present in theretentate, since silica deposition and scaling is a particular problemfor membrane purification systems. In an illustrative example, thecontaminant composition in the retentate in contact with a selectelement (e.g., element 150 in FIG. 2) exceeds the solubilityconcentration for at least one compound in the retentate, and ananalysis shows that the retentate 154 has a turbidity of greater than0.2 NTU units, indicating the increased probability of scaling occurringon the membrane on the select (i.e. 150) and/or a succeeding (i.e. 160)element. Retentate having a turbidity of greater than 1.5 NTU units inone embodiment; greater than 1.0 NTU units in another embodiment; andgreater than 0.2 NTU units in another embodiment triggers a mitigationstep to reduce the turbidity. The present process provides a method fortreating the retentate within at least one of the membrane elements tomitigate scaling, deposition and/or precipitation on subsequent membraneelements in the series flow. Thus, the turbidity target is achieved bytreating at least a portion of the contaminant-enriched stream that isin contact with the select membrane element and restoring the turbidityof the contaminant-enriched stream in contact with the selected membraneelement to no more than 0.5 NTU units.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 2, scaling on element 150 (andpotentially element 160 and subsequent) membranes is mitigated byrecycling at least a portion of the retentate 152 recovered from element150 to the feed 170 through stream 172. Active recycle of retentate 152is indicated by the solid arrow in FIG. 2. Dotted arrows 122, 132, 142,and 162 are indicative of recycle lines that are not activated in thisexample. Any or all of these recycle lines may be activated as necessaryto mitigate an increase in turbidity of the retentate in one or more ofthe other membrane elements. Blending the relatively concentratedsolution 152 with the relatively more dilute clarified water 170 reducesthe probability of scaling and deposition, and permits increased removalof contaminants from the system. The relative amount of recycleretentate is small compared to the amount of clarified water that is fedto the membrane system. In one embodiment, the volumetric flow rate ofclarified water to recycle retentate is greater than 3:1; in anotherembodiment greater than 5:1; in another embodiment greater than 10:1; inanother embodiment in a range from 10:1 to 10,000:1.

A sufficient amount of retentate 150 is recycled through stream 152 toimprove the clarity of 154 in contact with membrane element 150.Depending on the amount of flow and the size and number of membraneelements, the clarity of stream 154 will improve as a result of the 152recycle, to reach a target turbidity of no more than 1.5 NTU unit in oneembodiment; no more than 1.0 NTU unit in a second embodiment; no morethan 0.5 NTU unit in a third embodiment; and no more than 0.2 NTU unitin a fourth embodiment.

At the target turbidity, recycle 152 may be ceased, continued, orcontinued at a reduced rate. Under some conditions, restoring theclarity of retentate 154 to a target value may have the effect ofdecreasing the clarity of retentate 190, which is the reject stream fromthe module 110, and recycle of the element 160 retentate through stream162 is commenced. In one embodiment, more than one of recycle streams122, 132, 142, 152 and 162 are activated through stream 172, for recycleto the feed 170.

The retentate 190 which is recovered from the last element in the seriespasses from the module. When the module is the last module in the seriesflow of retentate through the system, the retentate 190 may be recoveredfor disposal or for further treatment. When the module is followed byone or more modules in the series flow, the retentate 190 may be passedto succeeding modules in the system.

Permeate streams (126, 136, 146, 156 and 166) from each element arecombined in a module permeate stream 180, for recovery as purified wateror for further processing, using, for example, additional modulesdownstream from the module of FIG. 2. In the process, a substantialportion of the water in the clarified water is recovered from the systemas purified water. In one embodiment, the volumetric flow ratio of themodule permeate stream in FIG. 2 with the module retentate stream isgreater than 3:1; and in one embodiment, in a range from 3:1 to 20:1.

FIG. 3: FIG. 3 illustrates, in another embodiment, a method formitigating membrane scaling and fouling during operation of an exemplarymodule 210. In FIG. 3, feed stream 272 to membrane module 210 may beclarified water from pretreatment, optionally combined with one or morerecycle streams, or may be passed to the module from a preceding modulein series flow. Feedstream 272 is passed to membrane element 220; eachsucceeding membrane element 230, 240, 250 and 260 after element 220receiving a retentate 224, 234, 244, and 254 from the preceding membraneelement as feed, wherein the concentration of contaminants in theretentate increases as the stream cascades past each of the plurality ofmembrane elements in series flow. Permeate streams 226, 236, 246, 256and 266 from membrane elements 220, 230, 240, 250 and 260 combine toform module permeate stream 274. In this illustrative embodiment, thecontaminant composition in the retentate in contact with a selectelement (e.g. element 250 in FIG. 3) exceeds the solubilityconcentration for at least one compound in the retentate, and ananalysis shows that the retentate has a turbidity of greater than 0.2NTU units, indicating the increased probability of scaling occurring onmembrane element 150 and/or a succeeding elements. In one embodiment,retentate having a turbidity of greater than 1.5 NTU units, and inanother embodiment greater than 1.0 NTU units, and in another embodimentgreater than 0.2 NTU units triggers a mitigation step to reduce theturbidity. In the FIG. 3 example, the turbidity target is achieved bytreating at least a portion of the retentate stream 254 that is incontact with membrane element 250 and restoring its turbidity to no morethan 0.2 NTU units.

Treating at least a portion of the contaminant-enriched stream that isin contact with membrane element 250 includes removing at least aportion of the retentate fraction from the select membrane element 250through stream 252, clarifying the removed retentate fraction in aclarifying module 282 and recovering a clarified water 284 having aturbidity of no more than 1.5 NTU unit in one embodiment; no more than1.0 NTU unit in a second embodiment; no more than 0.5 NTU unit in athird embodiment; and no more than 0.2 NTU unit in a fourth embodiment.Clarified water 284 is returned to the RO membrane module 210 forfurther processing. The illustration in FIG. 3 shows the clarified waterrecycle 284 being passed to retentate 254.

In one embodiment, clarification module 282 is a holding vessel, forcausing the particulate matter in retentate 252 to settle, to produce aclarified recycle stream 284. In one embodiment, clarification module282 comprises a filter medium for removing particulate matter from theretentate; the method includes filtering the clarified water from theclarification module 282 and passing the filtered clarified water 284 tothe select membrane element 250.

Suitable filter media include absorption (e.g. a nutshell bed)ultrafiltration and nanofiltration. In one embodiment, fresh or purifiedwater 286 is added to the retentate for improved clarity, to decreasethe concentration of those materials in 252 that have exceeded thesolubility limit. The purified water 286 may be recovered, at least inpart, from the water purification method. In one embodiment, chemical288 is added to adjust the pH of the retentate for improved clarity.Depending on the particular application, the chemical may be acid oralkaline. Illustrative, non-limiting alkaline chemicals include causticor sodium hydroxide; soda ash or sodium carbonate in anhydrous or in oneor more of the hydrated forms; lime or one or more of its constituents,including calcium oxide, calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate in anyof the various anhydrous or hydrated forms in which these materialsoccur; and magnesium oxide. In one embodiment, the alkaline chemical isa coagulant selected from sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide orcombinations thereof. In one embodiment, the coagulant is selected fromthe group consisting of ferric chloride, ferric sulfate, aluminumsulfate, polyaluminum chloride or other forms of iron or aluminum. Inone embodiment, the pH of contaminant-enriched stream 252 passed to theclarification module 282 has a pH in a range from 5 to 7.9. In oneembodiment, the pH of the contaminant-enriched material in clarificationmodule 282 is increased to a pH in a range from 8 to 11.5, and inanother embodiment in a range from 9 to 11.5, and in another embodimentin a range from 3 to 7.9, to facilitate clarification of the retentatein clarification module 282. In one embodiment, a combination of thesemitigation methods is applied.

In one or more embodiments, streams are added directly to the selectmembrane element for mitigating scaling within the module. In oneembodiment, the step of treating at least a portion of the retentatefraction comprises adding fresh or purified water to the retentatefraction in contact with the select membrane element, thereby restoringthe turbidity of the retentate fraction to no more than 0.2 NTU units(in one embodiment at most 1.0 NTU units; in one embodiment at most 1.5NTU units). In one embodiment, the step of treating at least a portionof the contaminant-enriched stream comprises adjusting the pH of theretentate fraction in contact with the select membrane element by addingan alkaline chemical thereto, thereby restoring the turbidity of thecontaminant-enriched stream to no more than 0.2 NTU units (in oneembodiment at most 1.0 NTU units; in one embodiment at most 1.5 NTUunits). In one embodiment, the pH of the contaminant-enriched stream isadjusted to a pH in a range from 9 to 11.5.

In one embodiment, the clarified recycle retentate 284 has a turbidityof no more than 1.5 NTU unit in one embodiment; no more than 1.0 NTUunit in a second embodiment; no more than 0.5 NTU unit in a thirdembodiment; and no more than 0.2 NTU unit in a fourth embodiment. In oneembodiment, the clarified recycle retentate 284 has a pH of less than 6;in another embodiment in a range from 3 to 6.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment for separating boron and ammonia fromclarified water. In conventional processes, two membrane passes arerequired to remove sufficient boron that the treated water can bedischarged to the surface. Both passes are operated at high pH, aroundpH 10.5. Boron is rejected at this high pH, leaving clean treated waterand a reject stream concentrated in boron. However, ammonia is notrejected at this high pH, meaning that it passes through the ROmembranes and into the treated water.

Produced water 312 is pretreated in pretreatment step 314, and clarifiedwater 316 is passed to membrane unit 310 for purification, the unit 310comprising first pass RO module 320 comprising a plurality of membraneelements and second pass RO module 340 comprising a plurality ofmembrane elements. Feedstream 316 to the membrane unit 310 originatesfrom a pretreating step 314; in one embodiment, feedstream 316 is passedto the unit 310 from an upstream membrane unit (not shown). In oneembodiment, the pH of the feedstream 316 is adjusted 332 to preconditionthe feedstream for a particular membrane purification method. Thefeedstream 316 contains at least ammonia and boron and has a pH in arange from 8 to 11.5. In one embodiment, the clarified water containsgreater than 10 mg/L ammonia; in another embodiment, greater than 25mg/L ammonia. In one embodiment, the clarified water contains greaterthan 5 mg/L boron; in another embodiment, greater than 25 mg/L boron.Other contaminants may also be present, so long as the turbidity of thefeed 316 is less than 1.5 NTU units; in one embodiment, no more than 1.0NTU units; in another embodiment, no more than 0.5 NTU units; and inanother embodiment, no more than 0.2 NTU units. First pass module 320 isoperated for boron removal and second pass module 330 is operated forammonia removal. Feed 316 to first pass module 320 has a pH in a rangefrom 8 to 11.5, and in embodiments from 9 to 11.5. Partial purificationof the clarified water 316 in first membrane module 320 produces a firstpermeate stream 322 and a first retentate stream 334. At the pH of theclarified water 316 as feed to the first membrane module 320, boron iseffectively removed from the clarified water; in one embodiment, boronremaining in the first permeate stream 322 is less than 10% of the boroncontained in the clarified water 316; in a second embodiment less than5% of the boron contained in the clarified water 316. In one embodiment,at least 50%, and in other embodiments at least 75% and at least 90% ofthe boron in feedstream 316 is excluded from first permeate 322 andremoved in retentate 334. While some ammonia is removed in the firstmembrane module 320, to effectively remove much of the remainingammonia, an acidifying chemical 328 is added to the first permeatestream 322 to increase the pH in feedstream 324 to the second membranemodule 340. In one embodiment, sufficient acidifying chemical is addedto increase the ammonia removal in a second RO membrane module 340.Suitable acidifying chemicals include HCl, sulfuric acid, or other typesof organic and inorganic acids. In one embodiment, sufficient acidifyingchemical 324 is added to reduce the ammonia remaining in a secondpermeate stream 322 to less than 10% of the ammonia in one embodiment;and less than 5% of the ammonia in a second embodiment, which iscontained in the clarified water. In one embodiment, at least 50%, andin other embodiments at least 75% and at least 90% of the ammonia infeedstream 316 is excluded from second permeate 342 and removed inretentate 344. In one embodiment, sufficient acidifying chemical 328 isadded to the first permeate stream 322 to produce a second membranemodule feed 324 having a pH in a range from 3 to 7.9 in one embodiment,and 3 to 6 in another embodiment. Turbidity and/or pH of the feed 322 tothe second membrane module may be monitored using sensor 326, and theamount of acidifying chemical 328 added to the stream adjusted tomaintain the desired pH and/or turbidity. In one or more embodiments,the sensor 326 is selected from a conductivity sensor, a turbiditysensor, a particulate sensor, a pH meter and a combination.

Feedstream 324 is passed to second membrane module 340, producing asecond permeate stream 342 and a second retentate stream 344 from thesecond membrane module, wherein the ammonia remaining in the secondpermeate stream is less than 10% of the ammonia contained in theclarified water. In one embodiment, the ammonia remaining in the secondpermeate stream 342 is less than 5% of the ammonia contained in theclarified water 316; in another embodiment, less than 3% of the ammoniacontained in the clarified water 316.

In one embodiment, the pH balance in the embodiment illustrated in FIG.4 may be reversed. In this embodiment, feedstream 316 is passed to thefirst membrane module 320 having a pH in a range from 3 to 7.9 in oneembodiment and from 3 to 6 in another embodiment, for removing ammoniain the first membrane module 320. Alkaline chemical is supplied to thefirst permeate stream 322, resulting in a feedstream 324 to the secondmembrane module 340 having a pH in a range from 8 to 11.5 in oneembodiment and 9 to 11.5 in a second embodiment, for effective boronremoval from the second permeate 342 and into the second retentatestream 344.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5 includes pretreating produced water408 in pretreating unit 410. Pretreating includes removing oil and siltfrom the produced water. In one embodiment, pretreating includessoftening the produced water to reduce TDS and hardness. In oneembodiment, softening the produced water is not required. The clarifiedwater 414 is passed to membrane module 420. Clarified water 414 isoptionally combined with recycle 426, and one or more scale inhibitors418 to suppress scale formation on the downstream RO membrane and anacid/base titrant 412 to produce a combination stream 416 having a pH ina range from 3 to 7.9. The combination stream 416 passed to first passRO membrane 420 for purifying the produced water, producing purifiedwater 422. In one embodiment, the RO membrane 420 is operated at apressure in a range from 250 to 1000 psig; in another embodiment in arange from 500 to 750 psig. In one embodiment, membrane unit 420operates with no recycle 426. In another embodiment, unit 420 operatesat a feed/recycle volumetric flow ratio in a range from 20:1 to 3:1; inanother embodiment, from 10:1 to 5:1.

Rejection efficiencies of the system illustrated in FIG. 5 are high.Rejection of TDS is generally greater than 80%, and in one embodimentgreater than 90%; in another embodiment greater than 95%; and in anotherembodiment greater than 97%. Rejection of boron is generally greaterthan 50%; in one embodiment, greater than 60%; in another embodiment,greater than 70%. Rejection of ammonia is generally greater than 80%; inone embodiment, greater than 85%; in another embodiment, greater than90%. Rejection of silica is generally greater than 85%; in oneembodiment, greater than 90%; in another embodiment, greater than 95%;in another embodiment, greater than 97%. Recovery efficiencies aspurified water 422 are generally greater than 70%; in one embodiment,greater than 75%; in another embodiment, greater than 80%.

Purified water 422 and reject stream 424 are recovered from the membraneunit. In one embodiment, purified water 422 has a TDS content of lessthan 250 ppm; in one embodiment, in a range from 25 to 250 ppm; inanother embodiment, in a range from 25 to 200 ppm. In one embodiment,purified water 422 is utilized as boiler feedwater for steam generation.In one embodiment, the generated steam is utilized in enhanced oilrecovery. Reject stream 424 is the retentate from RO membrane 420. Inone embodiment, at least a portion of stream 424 is recycled to theclarified water feed to the RO membrane. In one embodiment, at least aportion of reject stream 424 is recovered from the RO membrane andprocessed further, or, in embodiments, disposed. As shown in Table III,purified water 422 from membrane unit 420 contains no more than 0.69mg/L ammonia, no more than 12.1 mg/L boron, no more than 2.67 mg/Lsilica, with no more than 97.94 mg/L TDS and 0.00 mg/L hardness.

Table III lists exemplary operating parameters and properties of thevarious streams of FIG. 5. Purified water recovery in this particularexample is 85.01%. While these values are derived from a particularsimulation based on a commercial membrane, a particular feed and aparticular set of operation parameters, ranges of values around each ofthe entries in the table are considered to be within the scope of theinvention.

TABLE III Feed Retentate Permeate Ref. # 414 416 424 422 OperatingParameters Flow rate, gal/min 680 95.00 182.69 497.31 Pressure, psig671.94 645.81 0.00 TDS 5216.22 97.94 Flow properties, mg/L After NameFeed Recycle Stage 1 Stage 1 Total NH4⁺ + NH₃ 18.58 33.85 125.70 0.690.69 K 42.00 74.99 278.07 0.38 0.38 Na 1500.00 2681.98 9960.02 8.36 8.31Mg 20.00 35.81 133.19 0.04 0.04 Ca 47.00 84.16 313.01 0.09 0.09 Sr 1.502.69 9.99 0.00 0.00 Ba 0.25 0.45 1.66 0.00 0.00 C03 6.75 23.81 227.900.00 0.00 HC03 1000.00 1755.76 6248.27 6.50 6.50 N03 0.50 0.88 3.18 0.030.03 Cl 1790.00 3451.23 12817.74 10.39 10.39 F 0.46 0.82 3.05 0.00 0.00S04 5.50 9.86 36.69 0.00 0.00 Si02 300.00 535.66 1986.55 2.67 2.67 Boron60.03 98.45 333.49 12.10 12.10 C02 24.55 27.32 85.91 39.62 39.61 TDS5075.73 9254.54 34050.51 97.94 91.94 pH 7.60 7.74 7.63 5.41 5.41

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 includes pretreating produced water508 in pretreating unit 510; clarified water 514 is passed to membraneunit 510 having dual-pass RO membrane modules 520 and 530 to producedpurified water 532. Similar to the embodiment of FIG. 5, pretreatingincludes removing oil and silt from the produced water. In oneembodiment, pretreating includes softening the produced water to removeTDS and hardness. In one embodiment, softening the produced water is notrequired. In one embodiment, the pretreated produced water 514 isacidity-adjusted using stream 512 to a pH in a range from 3 to 11.5 inone embodiment; in a pH range from 9 to 11.5 in a second embodiment; andin a pH range from 3 to 7.9 in a third embodiment. One or more scaleinhibitors 518 may be further added to suppress scale formation on thedownstream RO membrane. Clarified water 516 is passed to first pass ROmembrane 520 for purifying the produced water, producing partiallypurified water as permeate 522. The purified water 522 is passed to asecond pass RO membrane 530 for further purification. Purified water 532produced in the membrane purification system is permeate from the secondpass membrane unit 530. In one embodiment, RO membranes 520 and 530 areoperated at a pressure in a range from 200 to 1000 psig; in anotherembodiment in a range from 250 to 750 psig. Retentate recycle 526 frommembrane module 520 and retentate recycle 536 from membrane module 530are also provided. Either or both recycle streams 526 and 536 may beactivated during operation. In one embodiment, membrane module 520operates with no recycle. In another embodiment, module 520 operateswith recycle 526 at a feed/recycle volumetric flow ratio in a range from20:1 to 3:1; in another embodiment, from 10:1 to 5:1. In one embodiment,membrane module 530 operates with no recycle. In another embodiment,module 530 operates with recycle 536 at a feed/recycle volumetric flowratio in a range from 20:1 to 3:1; in another embodiment, from 10:1 to5:1.

As with the example illustrated in FIG. 5, rejection efficiencies of theexample of FIG. 6 are high. Rejection of TDS is generally greater than80%, and in one embodiment greater than 90%; in another embodimentgreater than 95%; and in another embodiment greater than 97%. Rejectionof boron is generally greater than 50%; in one embodiment, greater than60%; in another embodiment, greater than 70%. Rejection of ammonia isgenerally greater than 80%; in one embodiment, greater than 85%; inanother embodiment, greater than 90%. Rejection of silica is generallygreater than 85%; in one embodiment, greater than 90%; in anotherembodiment, greater than 95%; in another embodiment, greater than 97%.Recovery efficiencies as purified water 422 are generally greater than70%; in one embodiment, greater than 75%; in another embodiment, greaterthan 80%. As shown in Table IV, purified water 532 from membrane unit510 contains no more than 0.79 mg/L ammonia, no more than 0.41 mg/Lboron, no more than 0.06 mg/L silica, with no more than 4.21 mg/L TDSand 0.00 mg/L hardness.

Table IV lists exemplary operating parameters and properties of thevarious streams of FIG. 6. Recovery of purified water 532 from unit 510,based on this particular example, is 89.99%, based on feed 514. Whilethese values are derived from a particular simulation based on acommercial membrane, a particular feed and a particular set of operationparameters, ranges of values around each of the entries in the table areconsidered to be within the scope of the invention.

TABLE IV Feed Retentate Permeate Ref # 514 516 524 534 522 532 OperatingParameters Flow rate, 673 88.00 315.36 146.54 357.64 168.82 Gal/minPressure, 314.87 281.92 250.02 0.00 0.00 psig TDS, ppm 3.07 6.62 Flowproperties, mg/L Retentate Permeate After Stage Stage Stage Stage NameFeed Recycle 1 2{grave over ( )} 1 2 Total NH4⁺ + NH3 0.04 1.74 4.478.71 0.78 0.80 0.79 K 0.56 1.20 2.56 5.47 0.01 0.03 0.02 Na 12.15 99.24211.16 452.92 0.54 1.31 0.79 Mg 0.06 0.13 0.28 0.60 0.00 0.00 0.00 Ca0.13 0.2 0.60 1.30 0.01 0.00 0.00 Sr 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00Sn 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 CO3 4.79 12.3 30.71 70.42 0.01 0.020.01 HC03 2.70 3.41 3.79 3.62 0.04 0.08 0.05 NO3 0.04 0.0 0.18 0.37 0.000.01 0.00 Cl 15.26 33.06 70.42 151.21 0.12 0.30 0.18 F 0.00 0.00 0.000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 S04 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Si02 3.908.44 17.96 38.54 0.04 0.10 0.06 Boron 16.26 35.01 74.36 159.30 0.31 0.630.41 C02 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 TDS 136.58 366.8 1776.891661.28 3.07 6.62 4.21 pH 10.50 10.74 11.00 11.28 9.52 9.84 9.65

EXAMPLE 1

A packed column about 8 feet high and about 9.5 inches in diameter (ID)was packed with approximately 80 pounds of ¼ inch and finer size crushedoyster shells. An aqueous solution containing organic contaminants,including BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene and thexylenes) and soluble organics (soluble oil), was introduced at the topof the column at a flow rate between 0.4 and. 2.0 gpm. The average flowrate was maintained at approximately 1.0 gpm. Water was collected at thebottom of the column and analyzed using gas chromatography.

The results of the soluble organic and BTEX content in the inlet andoutlet streams of the column are given in Table V. The detectable limitfor the BTEX compounds was 0.1 μg/L. The total hydrocarbon was obtainedusing the purge and trap method. All dispersed oil was removed from thefeed solution before entering the packed column, and the totalhydrocarbon was therefore essentially soluble organics (or soluble oil).

TABLE V Concentrations of soluble organics and BTEX compounds. Flow rateInlet Conc. Outlet Conc. % Run# (GPM) Component (μg/L) (μg/L) Removal 11.0 benzene  ND* ND 98.7 toluene ND ND ethyl-benzene ND ND xylene 0.3 NDtotal HC 78.2  1.0 2 1.0 Benzene ND ND 99.9 toluene ND ND ethyl-benzeneND ND xylene 0.3 ND total HC 108.7  0.1 3 1.0 Benzene ND ND 98.1 toluene0.2 ND ethyl-benzene ND ND xylene 4.5 ND total HC 94.6  1.8 4 1.0Benzene ND ND 96.7 toluene 0.3 ND ethyl-benzene ND ND xylene 4.0 NDtotal HC 117.9  3.9 5 1.0 Benzene ND ND 97.5 toluene 0.4 NDethyl-benzene ND ND xylene 11.9  ND total HC 132.5  3.3 6 1.0 Benzene NDND 96.7 toluene 0.4 ND ethyl-benzene ND ND xylene 6.0 ND total HC 140.3 4.6 7 0.4 Benzene ND ND 98.0 toluene 1.2 ND ethyl-benzene 0.6 ND xylene10.8  ND total HC 93.4  1.9 8 0.4 Benzene ND ND 98.4 toluene 1.6 NDethyl-benzene 1.2 ND xylene 9.5 ND total HC 120.3  1.9 *Not detectable.

EXAMPLE 2

Produced water is treated to remove gas, oil, and larger particles. Theproduced water is then partially softened, after which antiscalant isadded to the partially softened water, and the partially softened wateris then run through a reverse osmosis system. The reverse osmosis systemmay include one or more reverse osmosis modules. In an embodiment of theinvention, two RO modules are used. In the case of using more than oneRO modules, the reject water from the second RO modules may be recycledback into the influx of the first RO module. In another embodiment, theRO module includes reverse osmosis/nanofiltrate (RO/NF) membranes.

In this example, produced water from one type of reservoir consists ofapproximately 3,800 ppm of total hardness. Partial water softeningfollowed by one or more RO membranes yields purified water having ahardness of less than 1.0 ppm, to meet steamflooding requirements.Embodiments of the disclosure use The RO membranes may be high recoveryRO membranes.

EXAMPLE 3

Produced water is treated to remove gas, oil, and larger particles. Thisprocess can include a clarification module followed by flotation unitsand filters. It is anticipated that a flotation unit can remove up toabout 95% of oil and some of the gases, such as hydrogen sulfide andcarbon dioxide, from water. An ultra-filtration unit, such as a ceramicUF membrane unit may also be used prior to the softening and RO systemof the current disclosure. The water may also be heated or cooled priorto entering the softening system (chemical or softener based), or aftergoing through the softening system and before entering the RO system.For example, the water may be cooled to lower than 113° F. (45° C.)prior to going through the RO system but after going through thesoftening system. As another example, the water may be heated prior tochemical softening methods. After pretreatment, the produced water isthen partially softened in a partial softening unit. The unit may usechemical softening, or an ion-exchange resin based softening unit.

EXAMPLE 4

Simulation of partial water softening. A simulation of partial watersoftening was run using programs specifically designed by membranecompanies for the specific membrane used. Water Analysis—Simulatedproduced water was used for the software programs for membranecalculations. Boiler Water Requirement—207,000 BWPD for the treatedproduced water to meet the boiler water specifications. For the producedwater, this would require approximately 300,000 BWPD for the RO membranesystem, if the recovery factor is about 69-70%. Water Temperature—Atemperature not exceeding 45° C. (113° F.) was used for this study. 113°F. is the maximum tolerance temperature for the RO membranes used inthis example.

Table VI below contains the results of the first pass in a high-recoverylow pressure RO membrane process simulation with RO recycling.

TABLE VI Pass Streams (mg/l as Ion) Concen- Adjusted Feed trate PermeateAfter Stage Stage Name Feed Initial Recycles 1 1 Total NH4+ + NH3 0.000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 K 89.45 89.45 74.84 336.08 1.21 1.21 Na 1137.711137.71 950.71 4274.70 13.82 13.82 Mg 213.61 213.61 177.01 802.75 0.640.64 Ca 925.09 925.09 766.51 3476.50 2.69 2.69 Sr 35.12 35.12 29.10131.98 0.10 0.10 Ba 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 CO3 8.54 8.54 5.39144.89 0.00 0.00 HCO3 1072.63 1072.63 900.58 3801.04 14.30 14.30 NO30.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Cl 2491.55 2556.10 2127.39 9604.91 19.8119.81 F 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 SO4 1264.32 1264.32 1045.904751.45 1.47 1.47 SiO2 16.47 16.47 13.86 61.87 0.32 0.32 Boron 2.23 2.232.42 6.93 1.15 1.15 CO2 39.87 39.87 40.28 98.42 48.62 48.62 TDS 7267.237331.77 6105.13 27425.75 60.95 60.95 pH 7.28 7.28 7.22 7.25 5.59 5.59

Table VII below contains the results of the second pass in ahigh-recovery low pressure RO membrane process simulation with ROrecycling. The results showed that with a two-pass RO membrane process,with recycling of the 2nd pass concentrate (reject) stream, recovery was73% (Table VII). The quality of water was reached TDS of 4.85 ppm withonly 0.01 ppm of calcium (no magnesium, strontium, barium), this calciumwould be equivalent to 0.025 ppm of total hardness (Table VII).

TABLE VII Pass Streams (mg/l as Ion) Concentrate Permeate Name FeedAdjusted Feed Stage 1 Stage 1 Total NH4+ + NH3 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00K 1.21 1.21 5.34 0.02 0.02 Na 13.82 13.82 60.79 0.17 0.17 Mg 0.64 0.642.82 0.00 0.00 Ca 2.69 2.69 11.90 0.01 0.01 Sr 0.10 0.10 0.45 0.00 0.00Ba 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 CO3 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 HCO3 14.3014.30 62.53 1.45 1.45 NO3 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Cl 19.81 19.81 87.300.19 0.19 F 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 SO4 1.47 1.47 6.53 0.00 0.00 SiO20.32 0.32 1.41 0.01 0.01 Boron 1.15 1.15 3.30 0.52 0.52 CO2 48.62 48.6248.71 47.75 47.74 TDS 60.95 60.95 257.98 4.85 4.85 pH 5.59 5.59 6.194.65 4.65

EXAMPLE 5

Chemical softening testing. Based on a field application, results showthat with the chemical softening method the use of a thickener-clarifieroperation with a sophisticated UF filtration system, such as ceramicmembranes for removing oil and solids in feed water of RO membraneapplication may not be needed. Laboratory bottle and pilot tests weredone to demonstrate the use of caustic, soda ash, or their combination,for partial softening of produced water. In this case, the turbidity ofwater could be reduced to 0.2 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU), whichis suitable for the RO membrane operation.

Testing was conducted using synthetic water with 3800 ppm of hardnessand about 8000 ppm of TDS. The test procedure and results of each stepare summarized as follows: With 100 ml of the synthetic water, 5 dropsof crude oil was added. The sample was shaken 300 times in aprescription bottle. Measured turbidity was 5 NTU. Temperature was 93°C. in a water bath for 1 hour. 2200 ppm of sodium carbonate was addedand mixed, giving a turbidity of 8 NTU. Total hardness was reduced from3360 ppm to 1613 ppm with 52% reduction. After settling for 2 hours, theturbidity reduced from 8 to 0.21 NTU.

The results are summarized as follows. In this case, an evaporation testshows that in order to have 75% water recovery without scaling about 50%original hardness should be removed. Scale inhibitors are effective.Without the chemical scale tends to develop rapidly. Caustic and sodaash can reduce half of the original hardness. A lower amount of causticthan soda ash can reduce the same amount of hardness, and produces aless amount of precipitates respectively. For water containing oilparticles, after treatment by either caustic or soda ash, the waterquality is much better than controls (no soda ash or caustic). Further,soda ash treated water is better than caustic treated water; however,precipitates from adding soda ash tend to be denser and stick to thebottom of prescribed glass bottles. Higher temperature seems to helpwith clarifying oily water. As now with a temperature of 93° C. and asettling time of 3.5 hrs. The water turbidity treated by soda ash is0.55 (initially 8). Extensive settling might not be necessary at 93° C.With initial turbidity 5.0, after two hours the turbidity is 0.21.

The above testing results show that the use of soda ash could reach aturbidity level of 0.2 NTU in 2 hours settling in a clarifier. This 0.2NTU turbidity was established in testing for the treated water to besuitable for RO membrane operation.

The above testing results also show that partial softening is effectiveto reduce the total hardness to approximately 50% for a sample ofproduced water using scale inhibitors. Since the partial softening ROsystem increases the concentration of ions in the reject (concentrate)water, the concentration of hardness materials increases with theconcentration increase. That is, when running a RO/NF membrane system at50% recovery, the concentration of the ions will increase roughly by50%. Hence, a way of handling this increase is decreasing the hardnessby 50% prior to RO purification. When the hardness concentrationdecreases by 50%, then within the RO/NF system the ion concentrationwill increase about 50% when the system is run at 50% recovery. Thistechnique effectively cancels the concentration effect of the increasedhardness levels. It means that the concentration of hardness will keepthe same as the feed water (before partial softening by 50%) throughoutthe RO/NF membrane system. Hence, this method minimizes the chemicaltreatment needed for scale control.

Additionally, the total softening process could also provide steam forthe once through steam generator operations. The partial softening withRO membranes would also be able to supply feed water for boilers. Theonce through steam generation would provide up to 75-80% quality steam,and boiler would provide 97% or better quality steam for more effectivesteam flood.

EXAMPLE 6

Partial Water Softening with a High Temperature Membrane. A GE hightemperature reverse osmosis membrane was used in this example. Themembrane used was a high temperature reverse osmosis membrane that canoperate at up to 70° C. Using GE's Winflows software, simulations wereconducted for both two pass and three pass system layouts. Determinationof the maximum overall recovery and the lowest TDS was conducted basedon a trial-and-error manner. Any configuration that yields system error(except scale-indicating errors, scale prevention will be addressed bypartial softening) was excluded from further consideration. Feedcomposition was modified to reflect 50% hardness removal for partialsoftening. In addition to eliminating systematic errors, caution wastaken for limiting the maximum cross sectional flow rate to be lowerthan 20 GFD as suggested by the manufacturer.

In this example, 8750 gallons per minute of produced water using a twopass design with a total number of 5080 elements in total was simulated.The line from the second pass reject stream was recycled back into thefirst RO input stream. The three pass design had a total number of 6688elements. The concentrate from the second pass was recycled back to thefeed stream. The concentrate from the third pass combined with theconcentrate from the first pass to form the total concentrate.

As shown in Table VIII below, the two pass design recovered 4.2% morewater than the three pass design does, however, the TDS was compromisedby 15.62 mg/L. Temperature was set to 137 F which was the projected feedtemperature achieved by using fin-fan cooler.

TABLE VIII Temp Temp Permeate TDS (mg/L) Overall recovery (° F.) (° C.)at max recovery (%) Configuration 137 58.3 19.68 67.2 Two pass 137 58.34.07 63 Three pass

In a high temperature environment, such as steam flood, a hightemperature RO/NF (reverse osmosis or nanofiltration) membrane system isused to conserve energy, reduce hardness and TDS. The energy savings issignificant in comparison with the use of traditional RO/NF membraneswhereas the maximum tolerance temperature is 113 F, while hightemperature membranes can have a tolerance temperature of 120-210 F, forexample. In some embodiments, a cooling system would not be need whenusing a high temperature membrane system. In some embodiments, the highRO membranes have recovery of up to 75% using partial softening toprotect the fouling and scaling in the membrane elements. In someembodiments, with the high recovery and reduction of TDS and hardness,the high temperature membranes permeate water can reach boiler qualitywater level of <20 ppm TDS.

After running through the partial water softening system followed by theRO system, the water may then be supplied as feed water to a boiler oronce-through steam generator (OTSG). For example, an OTSG could provideup to 75-80% quality steam, and a boiler could provide 97% or betterquality steam for a more effective steam flood, given water that wasprocessed through partial softening and RO.

The methods of the disclosure may be performed either on-shore oroff-shore, and may be adjusted to make the most efficient use of thelocation. As an example, ion exchange water softening systems may beused off-shore in order to reduce the amount of chemicals and wastesolids that need to be transported to and from the rig.

Embodiments of the disclosure include methods to reduce the hardness andTDS in produced water. One embodiment of the disclosure is a method ofimproving the percent recovery in water with high levels of hardness,the method comprising: a) receiving a produced water composition, b)partially softening the water composition, c) adding an antiscalant tothe partially softened water composition, and c) directing the partiallysoftened water composition through at least one reverse osmosis module.In embodiments of the disclosure, the effluent is directed from thereverse osmosis module to a boiler or a once-through steam generator.The produced water may be pretreated prior to being partially softened.For example, pretreatment may include filtering large particles out ofthe produced water, and removing gas and oil. The method mayadditionally include a decarbonator unit. The partially softened watermay be cooled prior to directing the partially softened watercomposition through at least one reverse osmosis module or heated priorto partial water softening. In some embodiments, the water is cooled toless than 100° C., less than 95° C., less than 93° C., less than 90° C.,or less than 80° C. In some embodiments, the RO membrane is a hightemperature membrane. The high temperature membrane unit could be areverse osmosis (RO) membrane unit, or a nanofiltation (NF) membraneunit. For example, the high temperature reverse osmosis module can havea maximum temperature of between 120 to 210° F.

For the avoidance of doubt, the present application includes thesubject-matter defined in the following numbered paragraphs:

1. A method of improving the percent recovery in water with high levelsof hardness, the method comprising receiving a produced watercomposition; partially softening the water composition; adding anantiscalant to the partially softened water composition; and directingthe partially softened water composition through at least one reverseosmosis unit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising directing the effluent fromthe reverse osmosis unit to a boiler or a once-through steam generator.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the water composition has beenpreviously processed to remove oil and gas.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a decarbonator unit.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the partially softened watercomposition is directed through two reverse osmosis units.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the reject stream from the secondreverse osmosis unit is recycled back to into the first osmosis unit.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein partially softening the watercomprises using a chemical softener.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the chemical softener is lime, sodaash, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein partially softening the watercomprises using an ion exchange resin based water softener.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the water softener is a strong acidcation softener.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the water softener is a weak acidcation softener.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein partially softening the watercomprises reducing the hardness of the produced water composition byabout 30-70% in a first embodiment; about 40-80% in a second embodiment;about 50-70% in a third embodiment; and about 50-60% in a fourthembodiment.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein partially softening the watercomposition comprises reducing the hardness of the produced water to atmost about 10 in one embodiment; to at most about 25 in anotherembodiment; to at most about 50 in another embodiment; to at most about100 in another embodiment; to at most about 200 in another embodiment;to at most about 300 in another embodiment; to at most about 400 inanother embodiment; to at most about 500 in another embodiment; to atmost about 750 in another embodiment; to at most about 1000 in anotherembodiment; to at most about 1500 in another embodiment; to at mostabout 2000 in another embodiment; to at most about 2500 in anotherembodiment; to at most about 3000 in another embodiment; to at mostabout 4000 in another embodiment; and to at most about 5000 ppm inanother embodiment;.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the produced water compositioncomprises a TDS of greater than greater than 3000 in one embodiment;greater than 4000 in another embodiment; greater than 5000 in anotherembodiment; greater than 6000 in another embodiment; and greater than7000 in another embodiment.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the partially softened water iscooled prior to directing the partially softened water compositionthrough at least one reverse osmosis unit.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the water is cooled to less than100° C. in one embodiment; less than 95° C. in another embodiment; lessthan 93° C. in another embodiment; less than 90° C. in anotherembodiment; and less than 80° C. in another embodiment.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein the produced water is heated prior topartially softening the water composition.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the reverse osmosis unit is a hightemperature reverse osmosis unit.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the reverse osmosis unit has amaximum temperature of between 120 to 210° F.

For the purposes of this specification and appended claims, unlessotherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities, percentages orproportions, and other numerical values used in the specification andclaims, are to be understood as being modified in all instances by theterm “about.” Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, thenumerical parameters set forth in the following specification andattached claims are approximations that may vary depending upon thedesired properties sought to be obtained by the present invention,inclusive of the stated value and has the meaning including the degreeof error associated with measurement of the particular quantity.

While compositions and methods are described in terms of “comprising,”“containing,” or “including” various components or steps, thecompositions and methods can also “consist essentially of” or “consistof” the various components and steps. All numbers and ranges disclosedabove may vary by some amount. Whenever a numerical range with a lowerlimit and an upper limit is disclosed, any number and any included rangefalling within the range is specifically disclosed. Also, the terms inthe claims have their plain, ordinary meaning unless otherwiseexplicitly and clearly defined by the patentee. If there is any conflictin the usages of a word or term in this specification and one or morepatent or other documents that may be incorporated herein by reference,the definitions that are consistent with this specification should beadopted.

It is noted that, as used in this specification and the appended claims,the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the,” include plural referencesunless expressly and unequivocally limited to one referent. As usedherein, the term “include” and its grammatical variants are intended tobe non-limiting, such that recitation of items in a list is not to theexclusion of other like items that can be substituted or added to thelisted items. As used herein, the use of “may” or “may be” indicatesthat a modified term is appropriate, capable, or suitable for anindicated capacity, function, or usage, while taking into account thatin some circumstances the modified term may sometimes not beappropriate, capable, or suitable.

This written description uses examples to disclose the invention,including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in theart to make and use the invention. The patentable scope is defined bythe claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilledin the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope ofthe claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from theliteral language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structuralelements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages ofthe claims. All citations referred herein are expressly incorporated byreference.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of treating produced water produced froman oil or gas well, comprising: a. recovering the produced watercomprising a mixture of water, oil, solid particulates and dissolvedsolids from a well extending into a subterranean formation; b.pretreating the produced water to remove a portion of the oil and solidparticulates therefrom, to produce a clarified water having a turbidityof no more than 0.5 NTU units, an oil content of at most 5 ppm, solidparticulates that are at most 5 μm in size, a boron content of greaterthan 25 mg/L, and an ammonia content of greater than 10 mg/L; and c.removing boron content and ammonia content from the clarified waterusing a first reverse osmosis membrane module and a second reverseosmosis membrane module to form purified water; wherein: the clarifiedwater is passed through one of the first or second reverse osmosismembrane modules at a first pH from such that the boron content isreduced to less than 5% of the boron content of the clarified water; andthe clarified water is passed through one of the first or second reverseosmosis membrane modules at a second pH such that the ammonia content isreduced to less than 5% the ammonia content of the clarified water. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the first pH is from about 10.5 to about11.5.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second pH is from about 3 toabout 7.9.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plurality ofreverse osmosis membrane elements and second plurality of reverseosmosis membrane elements comprise polymeric membrane elements.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein pretreating the produced water includesfiltering the produced water using microfiltration, ultrafiltration,nanofiltration and combinations thereof.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising passing the produced water through an ultrafiltrationmembrane, wherein the produced water contains greater than 100,000 ppmTDS.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein pretreating the produced watercomprises partially softening the produced water to a hardness in arange from 1 to 50 ppm.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein pretreatingthe produced water comprises partially softening the produced water at atemperature of from 150° F. to 200° F.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinpretreating the produced water comprises partially softening theproduced water by passing the produced water through an ion exchangesoftening process for reducing the hardness of the produced water andwherein the partially softened produced water has a hardness of greaterthan 50 ppm.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein pretreating the producedwater does not include a warm lime softening process, and further doesnot include an ion exchange softening process.
 11. The method of claim1, wherein pretreating the produced water includes precipitatingparticulates in the produced water in a clarification module, whereinprecipitating particulates in the produced water includes supplying asufficient amount of an alkaline chemical, selected from sodiumhydroxide, soda ash, sodium carbonate, calcium oxide, calcium hydroxide,calcium carbonate, magnesium oxide and combinations thereof, to theproduced water to increase its pH by at most 2 numbers, and furthercomprising filtering the pretreated water from the clarification module.12. The method of claim 1, wherein the produced water has a TDS contentof greater than 1000 mg/l.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein theclarified water has a TDS content of greater than 1000 mg/l.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the purified water contains no more than0.004 ppm hardness, no more than 0.1 ppm silica and no more than 19 ppmTDS.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the ammonia content is reducedto less than 3% the ammonia content of the clarified water.
 16. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the purified water contains no more than 0.5mg/L boron.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the purified watercontains no more than 5 mg/L ammonia.
 18. The method of claim 1, whereinthe purified water contains no more than 0.79 mg/L ammonia and no morethan 0.41 mg/L boron.
 19. The method of claim 1, wherein a feedstreamfor the second reverse osmosis membrane comprises a permeate stream ofthe first reverse osmosis membrane module.
 20. The method of claim 1,wherein a feedstream for the first reverse osmosis membrane comprises apermeate stream of the second reverse osmosis membrane module.